climbing Mt. Plesant with G'ma and g'pa young

The girls spent a few days over the summer with the Young grandparents, and they always came home with stories and adventures. This last time, they came home with that--but also with a framed picture for me of the girls climbing Mt. Pleasant with them! I could not believe it!!

I have no idea what prompted that idea--and clearly the girls (in flip flops and dresses) weren't prepped for it, but according to grandma they did amazing and everyone had a great time. 

Now when we go to Lancaster, the girls can say and will always remember climbing that with them--and Grandpa took the pics to prove and commemorate it to boot!

'Jahn' girl cousin visit

Dad's side of the family didn't do their annual visit in July this year, it was late August instead--so things were a bit different. Kaylyn was already in school and Kinleigh was in daycare, and with all the moms working, we really had to shuffle to be able to all see each other!

At least on one Friday night, it worked that the girls could all get together, and Amara and Cora had a blast. They are so used to being the only girls, with 8 boy first-cousins, that they were in heaven. They ate popsicles, ran, played tag, chased fireflies and laughed, a LOT. I hope we continue this time for them--for to them to do this every year, even if that's the only time we see them.

OLPH festival

The OLPH festival is a blessing and curse. For days, we drive past all the rides and attractions--so the girls get excited and there's no way to NOT go, BUT it's just up the road and it's super fun, and I love that we can go on Friday. Needless to say the kids were excited--and we got there right at the 6pm opening time. We got our wristbands and went straight to the kite swings. 

The game-plan was to get through all the rides they wanted to ride, before it got slammed busy, and then double back if there were ones they loved--there were some really cool ones this year, so that part was great! 

Amara wanted to ride the big spinning ride, which she JUST was tall enough for too--so she did that while Cora and daddy hit the big slide and games again. They also had the child ID booth set up at the school, so we popped in there to get those updated (the girls are the SAME weight, lol and just a few inches apart) but they both loved their new drivers licenses! haha

We stayed about 2 hours, and as the girls got sick of waiting in lines, we grabbed a funnel cake and headed out. It was great to get in and out of there before it got too nutty--it's a decently priced event really, and the girls can pretty much run on their own. With all the teenagers there, Eric and I were talking about how old they girls will have to be before they could do alone...Eric's answer? "30" haha, dad.

daddys bday

we have officially reached the age of embarrassing daddy at the local mexican restaurant :)  For daddy's birthday, of course we spoiled him at home--and we did pies for him, but we wanted to take him out too. 

The girls were all about his presents too--which seem to be getting bigger and more functional, but he loves it too. Happy birthday daddy!

chef night

Our friends Joy and Adley found a really neat class for kids that was perfect for back to school--about teaching kids how to pack healthy and creative lunches. We got signed up and got Amara's new lunchbag for the year and headed up ready to learn.

The Commissary was a super cool place--they host food truck events and lots of classes for kids and adults alike. Before even starting the class, Amara was already asking to sign up for more classes. http://www.thecommissarycolumbus.com/

Adley and Joy got started on a waffle/ peanut butter/ honey kind of sandwich and some homemade tail mix together--

Amara was assigned a mexican tortilla rollup and she was THRILLED to get started too. 

all the kids were working on their teams, and then Ad and Amara swapped their lunch box contents. The class teacher, was from Hot Chicken Takeover and she told us a lot about using binto boxes, freezing things ahead an gave us tips of things to do at home on the weekend to add some diversity too. 

I was so glad Amara wanted to do this and is excited about being in the kitchen with me. I want to really keep this momentum going for her and finding more of these maybe even with Eric --he has his eye on a pasta class coming up. haha

Daddy day pool visit at DFAS

After a summer full of water, and some big splash visits--Eric decided to bring the girls over to the pool on base for something different on one of his days with them. 

I was at work, but I was happy to get the phonecall and rushed over to the pool to meet them. The water was chilly, but they didn't care. They love the shallow end and also the diving board--Eric just loved that they can swim alone now.

Amara heard an ad for water Zumba (like Hilton Head) so we might make it back--and i'm sure we will next year. What a nice perk and visit and great fun watching my little swimmers!

girls day

One of the last days of the summer, I was lucky enough to have the girls all to myself, so we did a lot of fun things :) We had the LATEST start date in the district, so we ran the town pretty much all by ourselves!

First thing--we took the opportunity to visit the GCCCC where Cora will be starting as a Ladybug with Ms. Emily very soon! Cora and Amara both liked the classroom and Amara was hamming it up at her old stomping grounds. 

Next we ran over to Chuck E. Cheese for playing and lunch! Most kids are already in school so we literally almost had the place to ourselves. We played for hours, ate pizza and played games too. 

The girls danced with Chuck too before we headed to cash in our tickets!

Back at home we had some low key activities--for Cora, we put on some acrylic nails, very fancy!

Amara and I worked on the playroom--where out the front window we spotted the cutest little fawn watching her! love those nature moments!

At the end of the fun day, on the way to gymnastics, we saw the most beautiful end-to-end rainbow i might have ever seen. Amara took this pic out her window for me (quite the shutterbug) and it was just a simple perfect ending to my time with these girls and the summer together.